1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fuel tank construction of a motor vehicle, wherein a tunnel upwardly projecting from a floor panel, downwardly opening and disposed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is formed at the central portion in the widthwise direction of the floor panel, and a fuel tank is disposed in the tunnel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, in a motor vehicle, particularly, a passenger vehicle, a fuel tank has been disposed at the back of seats disposed at the rear end of a space occupied by occupants, whereby there have been imposed limits on the utilization of a space in the rear portion of the vehicle by the space occupied by the fuel tank.
To solve the above-described problems it is conceivable that, in a rear engine--rear wheel drive type motor vehicle, a front engine--front wheel drive type motor vehicle or the like, i.e., a motor vehicle M (Refer to FIG. 1) in which a propeller shaft does not longitudinally traverse a floor panel 1 of the vehicle therebeneath, a tunnel 2 upwardly projecting from the surface of a floor panel 1, downwardly opening and disposed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is formed at the central portion in the widthwise direction of the floor panel 1, and a fuel tank 3 is disposed in the tunnel 2, so that effective utilization of the space in the rear portion of the vehicle can be enhanced and further reduced total length of the vehicle and decreased weight of the vehicle can be attained.
In the motor vehicle of the type described, the fuel tank 3 is adapted to be disposed in the tunnel 2 having a space of a substantially square shape in cross section. In this case, with the conventional fuel tank as shown in FIG. 2 for example, when the seam portions 4 are disposed in the vehicle direction, a large space is formed between the top surface of the tunnel 2 and the fuel tank 3, and when the seam portions 4 are disposed in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. 3, large spaces must be formed between the opposing side surfaces of the tunnel 2 and the fuel tank 3. In either case, there is posed a problem that the effective utilization of the space remains low.